Scale Finder | Fretboard Patterns Generator

Are you trying to learn guitar scales ?

Would you like to play wonderful solos up and down the neck?

On this page, you'll find a tool that will be helpful for your mission: our Guitar Scales Finder .

This free tool is an interactive guitar software that helps you learn the fretboard patterns for tons of different scales and arpeggios.

It's very easy to use and has plenty of powerful features that will make the process of learning scales fun and effective.

Are you ready to discover what Does this free software have to offer? Let's begin!

This tool was originally built as a a support tool for guitar students , now it's available for free to everybody.

You don't need to download or install anything, the scale finder runs on your browser so it works well on any device that has a modern browser (Windows, Linux, Apple, Android)

In order to learn how the scale finder works, we need to know how to deal with guitar scales.

The most important note of a scale is the root , the note where the scale begins. Then, depending on the type of the scale, we have other notes, placed at different distances from the root.

See? We have the root, C , that is the first note of the scale.

Then we encounter:

• a major second (D, 2 half-steps from the root),
• a major third (E, 4 half-steps),
• a perfect fourth (F, five half-steps),
• a perfect fifth (G, seven half-steps),
• a major sixth (A, 9 half-steps),
• a major seventh (B, 11 half-steps) and C again (12 half-steps or 1 octave).

Some terminology: On the guitar, a half-step corresponds to 1 fret on the neck .

2 half-steps make 1 whole-step.

Half-steps are often denoted with the letter H while whole-steps with the letter W .

The scale finder shows you on the fretboard a great variety of scales and arpeggios.

To visualize a scale, you simply have to:

• Select the root note of the scale, in other words the first note of your scale (for example C, D, F or any other note)
• Select the type of the scale : major, minor lydian, whole-tone, dorian, just to name a few.
• Select the fretboard position on which you want to learn the scale pattern. As you probably already know, on the guitar you can play the same note on different fretboard areas. So the tool allows you to choose from which fret to show the pattern.
• Select the the shape of the pattern ; you can choose to study a 4 frets box pattern, or a 3 notes per string fingerings. 3 notes per string patterns are useful for shredding, because they are easier to play with alternate picking. You can even order the tool to display the notes on all the fretboard .

Once you've selected your scale, the tool will show the scale pattern on the fretboard , allowing you play along with it and learn the fingering.

A special thanks to Richard Cochrane (moderator of reddit.com/r/guitarlessons ) for providing the initial reference and knowledge with his Encyclopedia of Scales .

The scale generator has one unique, useful feature: the note degrees of the scale are color-coded, each degree has its own specific color.

In this way, you can know on the fly the correspondent degree of a note , just looking at its color:

• R - Root
• b2 - Minor Second
• 2 - Major Second
• b3 - Minor Third
• 3 - Major Third
• 4 - Perfect Fourth
• b5 - Diminished Fifth
• 5 - Perfect Fifth
• #5 - Augmented Fifth
• 6 - Major Sixth
• b7 - Minor Seventh
• 7 - Major Seventh

The tool has also a black and white visualization option if you are not comfortable with colors.

Of course this scale finder can play the scale you've selected .

On the control panel, you find the classic playback buttons: play, pause, rewind , along with a BPM text box for setting the speed of the playback.

You can also set the volume of the guitar and the drums separately.

The scale generator provides some common functionality with which you can partially adapt the tool to your own needs:

• Possibility to set the visualization of the fretboard left-to-right or right-to-left ; this is really useful for left-handed guitar players .
• A great deal of alternate tunings is available. You can even find the tunings for banjo, mandolin, ukulele, violin and other string instruments. Can't find a tuning? Write us a request and we'll add it.
• If you don't like the ebony color, you can select a maple , rosewood or black and white fretboard. It's a fancy feature but someone likes it a lot!

Now you know all that is required to use the scale finder.

The best way to learn scale and get familiar with the tool is to use it a lot; start the generator by clicking the button below , pick a scale, and play along with your guitar.

As always, for comments or questions, drop a comment below .

And if you like this tool, help us by sharing with your friends !

Here below you find some additional resources helpful for those who want to learn scales on guitar and develop soloing and lead guitar skills.

Check them out:

• Free Guitar Scales Ebook to download
• Lessons on scales, lead guitar and shredding

All Types of Guitar Scales: Names and Formula

For your convenience, here below, you find a complete list of (almost) all the types of guitar scales and arpeggios ( exotic scales included) .

This kind of visualization helps you understand the whole-steps and half-steps structure of a scale.

One exercise useful to memorize and internalize the sound of each scale is to play the scale on one single string , following carefully the interval structures shown below.

That's all, enjoy the Scale Finder tool, and don't forget to subscribe for free, to stay updated and get access to the free download area.